(CNN) – When the new session of Congress begins in January, most of the faces on Capitol Hill will be the same – incumbents in both the House and the Senate overwhelmingly won re-election in November.

Yet before ballots were cast, thirty-five members of Congress had already said they wouldn’t be returning to Washington in 2013. The number of retiring lawmakers was the highest since 1996, and the list included some formidable – and famous – members of the legislative branch. All will be watching from the sidelines as their former colleagues attempt to find solutions to both major legislative problems, and Congress’ own dismal approval ratings.FULL POST

(CNN) - San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, a Democrat, predicted Thursday Latinos will play an expanding role in the political future of Texas, a reliably red state.

"I think when you have that ground work and when you have the right candidates to excite folks, then you're going to start to see progress and within the next six to eight years, I believe that Texas will at least be a purple state, if not a blue state," Castro said on CNN's "Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien."FULL POST

(CNN) – Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, who's retiring after this year, said Thursday the personal beliefs of some Republicans dampened her party's focus on the economy this election year.

"We had Republican candidates who got very high profile and said some very stupid things. I think that really tainted the party," the senator said on CNN's "Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien."FULL POST

(CNN) - Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on Sunday refused to walk back on stinging critiques made about Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s record when the two were locked in a battle for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2010.

“I tried to give Texas a choice,” Hutchison said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”FULL POST

(CNN) - Democrats haven't won a major statewide election in Texas in more than 20 years. But they hope that retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez's announcement that he's running for the Senate in 2012 will break the Republican party's streak in what's considered a very solid red state.

Sanchez filed paperwork in San Antonio Wednesday to launch a Democratic bid for the open Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who announced in January that she would not run next year for a fifth term in office.FULL POST